Next Dough Neighbor sweetens downtown Camas

DCA to host ribbon-cutting at new doughnut shop during June First Friday

By Kelly Moyer
June 1, 2023 1:03 pm
Business, Latest News

Next Dough Neighbor owner Matt Schultz works inside his downtown Camas doughnut shop on Saturday, May 27, 2023. (Photos by Kelly Moyer/Post-Record)

Downtown Camas just got a little bit sweeter.

The historic downtown shopping area’s latest addition, Next Dough Neighbor, which opened in April inside the former Gogi Grill at 412 N.E. Fourth Ave., offers more than 30 made-from-scratch, gourmet doughnuts and other sweet confections.

“The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Next Dough Neighbor owner Matt Schultz. “Everyone has been impressed and happy with the products so far.”

That includes customers who loved the intricate and richly flavored Next Dough Neighbor doughnuts long before Schultz purchased the pop-up business from its founders, Josh and Ashley Grossman, in December 2021, and then followed the doughnut shop’s progression from pop-up to retail storefront.

“People who are already familiar with the product say it’s just as good as they remember it,” Schultz said. “They feel like it’s a continuation of what they’ve experienced.”

Next Dough fans will be happy to learn that Schultz kept more than two dozen original recipes and that he and his employees learned directly from the Grossmans how to achieve the unique flavors and shapes that make Next Dough Neighbor doughnuts stand out from the crowd.

“We made no significant changes to the product people were familiar with,” Schultz said. “We used the same recipe and the same process to make the (doughnuts). And we worked with Josh to recreate all of the popular recipes and styles he had created.”

The shop kept about 30 recipes that were, Schultz said, “carryovers from the original pop-up” and added a few new doughnut flavors, including the maple and caramel-infused Camas Maple doughnut.

Schultz also added a few non-doughnut treats to the shop, including cinnamon rolls, cookies and monkey bread, and said he hopes to soon offer “gourmet, locally sourced” ice cream as well as a Next Dough Neighbor coffee blend crafted by a local coffee roaster.

Schultz and his wife, Elizabeth, along with their two children — 10-year-old Avery and 8-year-old William — moved to Camas from San Diego in 2018.

“I had my own business and we could have moved anywhere in the U.S.,” Schultz, the former owner of a shoe-importing business, said. “We literally took out a map and started the search. We knew we loved the Pacific Northwest, and we wanted to find a quiet, family friendly city with wonderful schools and a great community.”

Camas seemed the perfect fit for the family’s needs.

“Once we narrowed down a few areas, Camas — the feel of the town and the quality of the schools — really stood out,” Schultz said.

Now, the doughnut shop owner hopes he can give back to the town his family calls home.

“I’m really excited for the shop to be as involved as possible with all of the local community groups,” Schultz said. “The key to our success is integrating into the community and giving back as much as we can.”

Schultz plans to extend Next Dough Neighbor’s hours during downtown Camas events, including the weekly Camas Farmer’s Market, which runs from 3 to 7 p.m. each Wednesday, through the end of September, as well as bigger events such as Camas Days.

Currently, the shop is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

The Downtown Camas Association (DCA) will host a ribbon-cutting at Next Dough Neighbor at 5 p.m. Friday, June 2, as part of the group’s June First Friday festivities. For more information, visit NextDoughNeighbor.com, or follow the shop’s social media sites on Instagram (@nextdoughneighbor) and Facebook (facebook.com/nextdoughneighbor).

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